[Another Edit. Thanks to Coupon-Mad for reminding The Parking Prankster that there is more than one person in the world called Rachel; telephone number was Aldi's all along]
Aldi have had a couple of bad days on their Facebook page; it has been inundated with people complaining about parking charges imposed by their parking contractor, ParkingEye. Apparently ParkingEye have been penalising motorists for tiny overstays or minor infringements, which has naturally annoyed legitimate shoppers. After all, if you spent 10 minutes longer in the store, it was because you were buying more stuff!
The mighty ParkingEye legal team, unstoppable and unswervable once set on their way, issued letter after letter to the Aldi motorists, finally concluding in the last few weeks with a deluge of letters before action (LBA) and even small claims. At this point, people power took over, and the Facebook complaints started.
At first, Aldi fobbed off complainants with a stock message about how parking management was good for all. Apart I guess, from the large number of people stuck with invoices from ParkingEye for £100. The stock message was correctly ignored as meaningless bureaucratic blather.
The complaints continued.
Finally, someone high up at Aldi must have finally noticed what was happening and what a PR disaster this all was, and the message changed.
To summarise, Aldi don't want genuine customers to be penalised for shopping at Aldi. If you received a parking charge from ParkingEye and were a genuine shopper get in touch and they will sort it out - even if the case is going to court. (If it is going to court, you will still need to acknowledge the claim and say you want to defend it).
The email address is customer.service@aldi.co.uk. If you want to call Aldi and speak to Rachael or Laura about parking the number is 01793 836317.
Aldi have made a start to unwinding their PR mess, but it looks like there is a way to go yet. It may yet cost them dearly. The Parking Prankster notes that when Somerfield cancelled a parking contract last year, they had to pay ParkingEye £350,000 in damages. The Prankster will keep an eye on developments and blog again if anything newsworthy occurs.
Happy Parking
The Parking Prankster
The Prankster would like to thank pepipoo for bringing this to his attention.
Parking prankster thanks for putting this up.
ReplyDeleteI have been at them for the last few days. Helping people on fb as well as sorting out pe claim defences.
Aldi have realised they are in the shit
Of course, all this is down to Parking Eye's change of tactics. In the old days they were content to rake in the money from those people who believed the threats and paid up. Those people who ignored PE's letters were just let go and no further action was taken. Now PE are going after all those "ignorers" and are issuing hundreds of court claims. It's this more aggressive approach that has created this backlash from Aldi's customers and has created this PR disaster.
ReplyDeleteNow Morrisons in Aylesbury have given a contract to Parking Eye and are billing disabled shoppers for over staying 2 hours. Please note morrisons, disabled shoppers have enough in life to cope with without having to get permission to stay over your fit persons time limit. Paul
ReplyDeleteThe registered keeperof my vehicle got one of thesefor eating ,spending over 100.00 in Morrisons on the week that they had refurbished and we couldn't find a thing. I have taken it to the manager along with reeipt and he said it would be sorted. Morrison really have to get rid of this cowboy firm. did you know that if you left the carpark then returned within the 3 hours because you had forgotten somthing, your original departure time can be altered to reflect new departure time which will probably put u over the time limit, crafty or what
ReplyDeleteI've received a parking chage from Parking Eye for £70 for exceeding the time limit at Aldi Walton on Thames car park by 14 mins. Ive emailed Aldi head office with a protest but despite it being read by 7 different people no one has replied, my emails just gets deleted. I've also written to the manager of Aldi in Walton and no one has replied either, what should I do?
ReplyDeleteImmediately appeal to parkingeye. They will cancel if you show receipts. If they dont cancel, appeal to POPLA on the grounds the charge is not a genuine pre-estimate of loss and the operator provided no cost breakdown; parkingeye do not own the land and has shown no authorisation from the landowner. Aldi operate a dedicated parking appeal department. Write to B Barlow, Aldi Parking Appeals, Scimitar Way, Swindon, Wiltshire, SN3 4AL
DeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI have received a letter in the post from Parking eye as I overstayed in Morrisons carpark in stratford , London. It was a genuine accident that I overstayed due to an emergency I had to deal with at the time. I am not willing to pay as I did not intend to stay over two hours which I paid for.
What should I do? I dont think I have the ticket I got from the machine on that day to prove that I did pay to park. I have the picture of my car on their letter with time I went in and the time I left.
Help! I plan to ignore them, is the best thing to do?
Hi
ReplyDeleteMy mum-in-law has received a letter from parking eye demanding £70 after shopping at Aldi. She's 81 and disabled with a blue badge. Unfortunately, she assumed she could park for free on her blue badge and didn't realise she had to enter her registration number in the machine in the store. She's also thrown her receipts away and can't prove she purchased from the store. Can you please advise the best course of action - appeal to PE and/or speak to the store manager?
Appeal to PE and speak to the store manager. If both fails, get help here for your POPLA appeal: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=163
ReplyDeleteI am on this forum too, but so are others so you will get the latest info on how to win at popla
Here's a great one my mother a disabled Pensioner has just had a ticket from PE for staying in Aldi car park for wait for it 31 Minutes it's on their ticket complete with photos she as always had put her No: in their machine and still she got a ticket.
ReplyDeleteI don't need any help as I am dealing with it have already contacted the local paper and they are going to write an article about same. What ever happens Aldi will get a lot of agro from me as No bugger upsets my Mother.
Please also let everyone on facebook know how Aldi treat disabled pensioners. https://www.facebook.com/AldiUK?filter=2
DeleteLet me know when the paper prints the article
ASDA at Grantham have started a similar system which allows 2:5 hours, as I'm disabled I sometimes take longer, to get longer I have to register each time at the service desk, this can take 20 mins on it's own!
DeleteI shopped at your Aldi's (Worcester) recently only to receive a parking notice charge of £70. I called customer services, who said they would call be back (this took them two days). Only to be told unless you have the receipt or bank payment to prove you used the store, the parking notice would stand.
ReplyDeleteI told them I have all the packaging, some of which have sell by dates to prove I shopped there while I was parked. Again this would not do, I would not mind paying the charge if I had abused it, but I didn't, if you know Worcester you will understand when I say if I wanted to park somewhere to use a super market and then go and say visit my bank, I would clearly use Asda, which is just across the road form Aldi but has a 3 hour parking notice for a £l which I can redeem with my shopping. I can honestly say I will never use Aldi ever again. This was my first visit to Aldi and the most expensive supermarket I have ever used, I will not be back.
I now have a "letter before county court claim" from PE. I overstayed in a car park. I have receipts to prove that I was a customer. Didn't see the parking signs or hidden camera! PE say that my appeal to POPLA has been unsuccessful (I've heard nothing myself). Any suggestions?
ReplyDeleteNice job, Prankster! I just has a £70 ticket cancelled by Aldi after ParkingEye rejected my appeal -- they said the ten quid I spent at the store was "not enough" and that had me reaching for my blunderbuss. In any event, there's a good chance extortionate private parking changes will be outlawed soon, as were Denver Boots or wheel-clamps in 2012 after the previous "for the people" government ignored protests for years. They want public input, so anyone interested just needs to Google "Parking Discussion Paper Final" and all the info will pop up. This worth doing, everyone, because ParkingEye and their ilk are bilking decent people out of millions, and Aldi and other major companies that sub-contract their services are only just waking up to the awful truth!
ReplyDeleteDo not ever use any businesses, shops etc whose car parks are operated by Parking Eye. I shopped at Aldi in Worcester in Jan 2015, and used their car park which was managed by Parking Eye. They have some rare parking regulations, which require you to use termianals to enter your car's registration number. I live in Manchester but have never heard of such terminals, so didn't input my number plate into the terminal. I just assumed that you have 2 hour free parking, as in most of other supermarkets. Anyway, I was only travelling through Worcester and decided to get something to eat on my way. Of course, although I was a legitimate Aldi customer I still had to pay the fine. What bothers me the most is not the parking ticket itself but the fact that if you pay cash and don't keep the receipt from Aldi, there is basically no way of proving to them that you really were a legitimate customer who, as by their rules, can park in the car park for free.
ReplyDeleteI will never ever use any shop whose car park is managed by Parking Eye.
Do not ever use any businesses, shops etc whose car parks are operated by Parking Eye. I shopped at Aldi in Worcester in Jan 2015, and used their car park which was managed by Parking Eye. They have some rare parking regulations, which require you to use termianals to enter your car's registration number. I live in Manchester but have never heard of such terminals, so didn't input my number plate into the terminal. I just assumed that you have 2 hour free parking, as in most of other supermarkets. Anyway, I was only travelling through Worcester and decided to get something to eat on my way. Of course, although I was a legitimate Aldi customer I still had to pay the fine. What bothers me the most is not the parking ticket itself but the fact that if you pay cash and don't keep the receipt from Aldi, there is basically no way of proving to them that you really were a legitimate customer who, as by their rules, can park in the car park for free.
ReplyDeleteI will never again use any shops whose car parks are managed by Parking Eye
I had receipts, but apparently they were "not enough" - they incorrectly quoted how much I had spent, but ... after receiving a court notice, and going through mediation I gave up and paid £100 fine (to include extra charges) ... they are evil! I tried hard to fight them, but in the end didn't know what to do ... I had over-stayed so felt that I had no option.
ReplyDeletecustomer.service@aldi.co.uk
ReplyDeletenot
customer-service@aldi.co.uk
Just in case you have a problem with your email. Great Blog, thanks so much.
I will never shopping at aldi, £70 for 7 minutes, never again
ReplyDeleteI used Aldi in Kingsbury and received a parking fine. I followed the appeal process with PE, but with no luck they replied back asking for bank statement or receipt. I think what make it worst is i did provide a bank statement showing my purchase and my circumstance due losing a child and not being in a state of mind to keep track of time. I saw a previous post mentioning call Rachel or Laura , I called and Rachel answered and made a crazy assumptions due to the amount i spend i was not in the store the whole time. I think someone who jumps the gun like this should be fired from their job,I've been a customer with ALDI for years, but now i'm going elsewhere. SHOCKING CUSTOMER SERVICE
ReplyDeleteCarole - if you have a receipt then contact (CEO – Giles Hurley he runes the customer service.. They did eventually find the receipts for me -- ParkingEye still went ahead with POLA file so I then wrote to CAPITA the pensions company who have purchased P.Eye.
ReplyDeleteI informed them my pensions were with them & I was horrified to find they associated themselves with parasites like P.Eye - the case was dropped 3days later.. Capita have a comments page (HR) on their webpage. Ray
Hi, I received a parking charge from parking eye on 09/10/2017 because I parked on aldi car park in Northfield Birmingham for 40 minutes back in May 2017. I do admit I probably put a nought instead of a zero by mistake when I put my reg into the computer before leaving the shop but a simple warning for a first offence would be enough to make me think twice next time.
ReplyDeleteI have had a few people say I should just ignore the fine. Any advice would be gratefully received. Rob.
Thanks for putting this information here. I parked at Aldi, shopped, left well within the time limit and I believe entered my registration number correctly. I then received a notice from parking eye. I found the Aldi payment on my credit card statement and sent it to them with an appeal. I then went into the store and spoke to the manager. He managed to print out my till receipt and told me to send it to ParkingEye and they would remove the fine. I did this only to receive a letter that my appeal had been rejected. I was going to appeal to Popla when I read this thread. I phoned the Aldi customer service number and spoke to someone called Shaun and my fine should now hopefully be removed. It's a lot of hassle for doing nothing wrong. ! Thanks for the advice given.
ReplyDelete